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Atlanta Expansion Club To Be Announced April 16th

I have to say, the RBNY supporters were in fine voice last night. Granted, one of the songs I heard them clearly chanting was "You're not singing, you're not signing, you're not singing over there!" which I wasn't sure whether it was directed at Union supporters or a section of empty seats at Red Bull.

Atlanta is a horrible choice. They don't support any of their teams, including the Braves who are in the middle of a 20+ year era of almost annual visits to the postseason. Atlanta is not a sports town. Without a real soccer stadium, it seems like the only question is when that franchise is sold and relocated.

St. Louis should have been next IMO, or maybe Minneapolis. Somewhere central and new. I like San Antonio, but with two Texas teams already, I think a new central team would be better. Imagine a St. Louis SKC rivalry, it'd be perfect. Atlanta will be the Chivas of the east.

That doesn't outweigh the considerable risk of failure. Ask the NHL about Atlanta. The TV execs show Seattle & Portland every chance they get because they get to show full stadiums. TV markets ought to be secondary to the consideration of a passionate fanbase. Get the fans to create an atmosphere worth beaming into people's living rooms first.

Atlanta has proven in every single sport that it will not do that. Atlanta is the 9th best TV market and big enough to host the Olympics?

MLB: Braves: 13th in overall attendance, 21st in percentage out of 30 with 63.3%.
NHL: Thrashers in last year before they moved to Winnipeg (!): 28th out of 30, drawing around 13400
NBA: Hawks, this season, probably will make the playoffs: 28 out of 30 average attendance drawing 83.6% which is 27th best, only beating out the Bucks (worst team in league) 76ers (a close second) and the Pistons (a disaster of a team in a dying city).
NFL: Falcons, in 2012 when they earned the #1 seed in the NFC: 11th best total in NFL, with a 95.5% drawing, good for...18th best in a league of 32.

The Thrashers were terrible, but those weren't bad teams. The Braves have been one of the best teams in baseball the last two decades. The Hawks have made the playoffs more often than not. The Falcons earned the #1 seed. What other numbers do you need to look at? Atlanta doesn't care about its sports teams. It's not a sports town. Putting a franchise there is a waste, especially there are plenty of other venues out there.

So far everyone who predicts their demise has been made a fool, and yet people keep placing that bet. I'm not going to join that club.

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Agreed, I think they have far too much momentum that its created quite a culture there immediately that so many people have already bought into.

Perhaps their attendance would slump a bit if they had a few down years, but I can't imagine it would be anything significant, or not in line with similar slumps you'd see elsewhere.

I will point out, that although I didn't say it in this thread, I was definitely a skeptic on whether they really could be successful in Atlanta in garnering interest. I've been way wrong on how I thought things would go in ATL.

Atlanta are on a roll, but they're a young team in a young league. No team is immune from a few years of toxic misfortune, which can happen to the best of sides. And they wouldn't be the first team to plummet after the first few seasons of the new stadium feel-good factor. Not saying it's likely, but it's far from impossible.

whut? for years its been kraft [owner tbd] doesnt care this, he's only focused on patriots [other suff tbd] that.... finishes a shoddy stadium (as far as new construction is concerned) and get rooney and all is forgotten. Somehow he is elevated to to podium of spenders. Whelp if we are going down the DCU path, I'll cancel my tickets now and come back when we sign a 35 year old Mbappe.

whut? for years its been kraft doesnt care this, he's only focused on patriots that.... finishes a shoddy stadium (as far as new construction is concerned) and get rooney and all is forgotten. Somehow he is elevated to to podium of spenders. Whelp if we are going down the DCU path, I'll cancel my tickets now and come back when we sign a 35 year old Mbappe.

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Kraft owns New England.

After an ownership change, DC United in the last 12 months have (1) completed a stadium in a very difficult real estate market, (2) brought in one of the biggest names in the game, and (3) brought in two other players with higher transfermarkt values than anyone on our team, and young.

I guess you have to define "invested in [your] team," but I sure see some legitimate activity there.

After an ownership change, DC United in the last 12 months have (1) completed a stadium in a very difficult real estate market, (2) brought in one of the biggest names in the game, and (3) brought in two other players with higher transfermarkt values than anyone on our team, and young.

I guess you have to define "invested in [your] team," but I sure see some legitimate activity there.

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true that, early morning brain fart, but now that im on the spot I couldn't name the DCU ownership. I kinda recall it was going to go to a PE guy then cancelled or resold again or something...Im gonna have to look it up. My point was more that they went through a decade of nothing that had the fans in revolt, that's not the path I want to follow. They get on the podium I suppose, but put an asterisk on them.